Antennas used for radio communications typically consist of one or more radiating elements. The radiating element can be of different types, including at least a monopole, a dipole and a patch. Each of these types has different advantages and drawbacks.
A dipole is a narrowband antenna exhibiting relatively constant impedance and gain properties over the bandwidth of the dipole antenna. Dipoles are frequently used in low loss antennas. For example, a half-wave dipole can be a single straight radiating element (e.g., conductor) that is one half wavelength long, with a feed in the center. Typically, dipoles are configured with two straight radiating elements that are each one quarter wavelength in length.
A ½-wavelength dipole antenna consists of two ¼-wavelength elements connected at a source. The bottom ¼-wave element is essentially an image of the upper element. A circular antenna pattern is produced by the ½-wave dipole.
Many current designs that incorporate antennas into electronic enclosures are inefficient and narrow band. These devices require higher transmit power and suffer from limited bandwidth as well as reduced receive-sensitivity as a result of the antenna design. These narrow band antennas can also have irregular patterns that decrease efficiency in directions that are usually unknown by the user.
What is needed is a wide band antenna system that incorporates an electronic enclosure into the antenna that improves the received signal strength and reduces the physical size and complexity of the antenna and associated electronics. Further, an antenna system and method that provides an azimuth bearing from the antenna to the source of a signal of interest is needed.